Geo-Environmental Evaluation for Exploring Potential Soil Erosion Areas of Jainti River Basin Using AHP Model, Eastern India

摘要

This work aimed to explore soil erosion susceptibility zones of Jainti River basin, which is the 6th order tributary of Ajay River. A total of ten geo-environmental parameters i.e. land use and land cover, geomorphology, slope, drainage density, elevation, lineament, length of overland flow, vegetation cover, soil type and relative relief was selected based on collinearity statistics. Individual factor weights (Fi) and their sub-class weights (Vi) was calculated based on Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and summed up for producing a map of spatial soil erosion vulnerability. The result reveals that 19.97% (108.97 km2) of the study area, mainly the upper and middle parts of the catchment areas face highly to severe soil erosion problems due to higher elevation, slope and relief, lack of vegetation cover, existence of badland features. The accuracy of the result assessed through ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curve. The Area Under Curve (AUC) is 0.771 resembles to the prediction correctness of 77.1%. It is concluded that this model is very useful for further planning regarding soil erosion problem and replacement of the quality of land in sustainable way.